The Promise: Can Trump really make America great again?

One of the striking dynamics of Donald Trump's election was his success in persuading supporters of Barack Obama to vote for him. In November, 209 US counties that had voted twice for Obama flipped to Trump, enough to hand him victory. Who were these voters – and and how might they help us understand America's political crossroads? On the eve of the inauguration, the Guardian has begun a sustained reporting project called The Promise: Can Trump really make America great again? The series is set in a Pennsylvania county with a proud industrial past that delivered one of Trump's most dramatic and under-remarked wins. Northampton County, Pennsylvania, was home for nearly a century to Bethlehem Steel, builder of the Golden Gate bridge, the Manhattan skyline and much of the US navy. The mill closed 20 years ago; last year, many former steelworkers, once solid union Democrats, switched parties to vote for Trump.

Extinct blast furnaces at the former Bethlehem Steel mill site. The furnaces last melted iron ore in 1995, and the regional economy has struggled to regain its footing since.

In the coming months, we'll be following these voters to see how their views of America's new president evolve. For many of them, the election​ of Trump​ feels like a rebirth – a country that had grown unfamiliar suddenly resembles itself again. They talk about the national identity and their communal nostalgia, and their hunger for more direct speech in public life. They describe the importance of Christmas. Many have faith that Trump will fulfill his promise to bring back jobs, fix healthcare and immigration policy, and restore what some described as a lost way of life.

Larry Hallett, a restaurant owner (and classic car enthusiast) who supported Trump from the start. "I think it was his ordinary man's conversation," Hallett said of Trump's appeal. "It wasn't rehearsed. He said it like he felt it was."

Will their faith be redeemed? As we continue to report this story in the months ahead, I welcome questions and suggestions that Guardian readers might have for me, or for the voters of Northampton County. If you would like to follow this series, receive occasional emails and share ideas with me, please sign up here. We're heading back there soon, so weigh in now and help us shape our work in progress. Plus, join the Guardian for three days of live coverage of Trump's inauguration and the surrounding protests. Highlights include: Global Warning: a 24-hour live digital event about climate change launching today. On the eve of Trump's inauguration, in partnership with Univision, we'll be reporting from all seven continents in English and Spanish. Live coverage as Trump is sworn in as the 45th president on Friday, 20 January, including video as well as sharp opinion writing from Guardian columnists Richard Wolffe, Marilynne Robinson and Molly Crabapple. Live coverage of the Women's March on Washington on Saturday, 21 January – expected to be one of the largest demonstrations in American history – featuring Guardian columnist Jessica Valenti and the writer Eve Ensler. A new installment of our video series Anywhere But Washington, on Monday, 23 January, as it makes a one-time-only visit to Washington to follow Trump supporters at the inauguration. Groundbreaking experiments in live news coverage from the Guardian's Mobile Innovation Lab. To follow their experimental work, download the Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab app for iOS and sign up for notifications.   I hope you'll join us. Sincerely, Tom McCarthy, senior reporter

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